Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

People who are currently living in direct provision and those who are coming to Ireland under the new regime that this Bill envisages will be left in a similar limbo of statelessness unless we press the amendment. They will be very disappointed if they are listening to this debate that nothing has been done on this issue. They are calling on us to try to push this type of amendment in order to rectify the situation. It is retrograde that the Government is not seeing fit to take this on board now. I am told by people who are living in direct provision that they have seen many reports and working groups and have heard many statements but they are not seeing much change. They do not trust the Department of Justice and Equality to deliver on promises that are made in these Houses. Unless a provision is included in legislation, it never comes to pass. They have no faith in the Department and believe that unless something is inserted into legislation, it will not happen. With all due respect to the Minister of State, all of the good will in the world will not make it happen. Ministers will come and go but the reality is that after 12 or 13 years of direct provision, there have been many promises but no change. This is yet another empty promise.